


freedom of choice

by Half



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: AU because that's just who i am, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-05
Updated: 2018-01-05
Packaged: 2019-02-28 17:39:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13276557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Half/pseuds/Half
Summary: When Nicole Haught was six years old, her parents lost her in a mall.It wouldn't have bothered her much, if it hadn't been her birthday, and if she hadn't gotten lost because the grownups were too busy paying attention to her sister and brother."You're the big sister, Nicky," her father had told her. "You're supposed to share.""But they already get everythin'," Nicole had whined in response. "It's my birthday!"





	freedom of choice

When Nicole Haught was six years old, her parents lost her in a mall.

It wouldn't have bothered her much, if it hadn't been her birthday, and if she hadn't gotten lost because the grownups were too busy paying attention to her sister and brother.

"You're the big sister, Nicky," her father had told her. "You're supposed to share."

"But they already get  _everythin_ _'_ ," Nicole had whined in response. "It's  _my_  birthday!"

As far as she was concerned, she had a pretty good argument. She had already been forced to pick a restaurant that had food her little sister liked. She had already had to let her brother play with the brand new basketball she had gotten after he had thrown a tantrum. She had even given up her chance to go see  _Balto_  so that they could all go to the mall to get ice cream.

She had just wanted cake.

The older she got, the less she remembered about what she actually  _did_  in the mall while wandering around by herself. What she recalled most clearly was the security guard who noticed her and took her by the hand, taking her back to the security office and letting her hold his shiny yellow badge until her parents and siblings showed up.

She never admitted out loud how little she wanted them to find her.

It took seven more years for her to finally get a cake, but even then it wasn't her choice.

"Mom, I... thought you were gonna put a Batman symbol on it," she had asked hesitantly.

"You're a thirteen-year-old girl, Nicky," her mother had replied derisively, slicing into the bright pink cake. "Not a six-year-old boy. Grow up."

On her sixteenth birthday she convinced her parents that she was more than old enough to go see  _Nanny McPhee_  when it opened all by herself.

As far as she knew, they never found out that she walked right out of it and straight into an R-rated one instead.

Not that it mattered much, since before she hit her seventeenth birthday her parents had kicked her out of the house.

Her seventeenth and eighteenth were both spent at her uncle's and flew by without much fanfare.

"You're going to college, right?" her uncle had asked the day she turned eighteen.

"I don't know, sir."

"Well, I do. You're going to college, and that's the end of that."

Two days before her birthday, the year she graduated college, her uncle had told her he was sick.

“When you finish school, I’ll need you back here,” he had said. “To take care of me.”

“I will, but I’ll need to start the academy too if I want to-”

“That can wait until I’m better,” her uncle had said. “You owe me.”

It took years and her uncle’s death before she got her badge, and by the time she hit her twenty-fifth birthday, so many had gone past that she barely noticed them anymore.

"I'm Waverly," the bartender had said as Nicole slid onto the stool across from her. "You're new around here."

"That's a bit of a mouthful," she had replied. "You can just call me Nicole."

The bartender had laughed, a pretty, pretty laugh, and handed Nicole a Corona. "So what's your thing tonight? Celebrating or mourning?"

"Are those my only options?"

"It's Purgatory. If you're not a regular, yeah, those are pretty much the only options."

Nicole had downed half of her beer before saying, "It's my birthday."

"You're still not sure, then?" Waverly had asked with a wink.

"I'm not much of a birthday person."

"Well, happy birthday anyway, Nicole." A second Corona dropped onto the counter next to the first. "Those are both on the house."

"I guess it'll actually be a happy birthday this time, then," Nicole had joked, grinning as Waverly laughed and wandered over to serve another customer.

She pulled out one of her business cards and slid it into the tip jar along with 20 CAD.

"Maybe a really happy one," she had mumbled under her breath before walking out of the bar.

The year between her twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth birthdays went in a whirlwind. Patrols in her police car and couch dates with her cat and... choices.

For once, real choices.

Phone calls, late nights, dates both to restaurants and their beds.

Nicole had never really been sure she could love anyone.

Not until she met Waverly Earp.

"Hey," Nicole whispers, pressing a kiss to Waverly's bare shoulder. "Do you know what today is?"

"Of course I do," Waverly replies with a grin, rolling on top of her. "It's your-"

"We met a year ago today," Nicole interrupts. "So it's your day. What do you want to do?"

"Nicole, it's your  _birthday_."

"Oh." Nicole frowns up at her. "You remembered?"

"Of course I remembered." Waverly presses a kiss to the corner of her mouth. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Nobody ever remembers."

"I know what that's like. I wouldn't want to do that to you."

"Nobody ever  _cares_. I stopped caring when I was six."

"Well, that's going to be a problem, because a got you a cake. That chocolate and peanut butter one you said you liked, from the bakery in the city?"

"You... You got me a cake?"

"Yes..." Waverly's eyes widen. "Is that not what you wanted? I can-"

She's cut off when she's rolled over onto her back and kissed senseless.

"No. It's perfect."

She gets out of bed. "Come on, Waves, we have cake to eat."

"For breakfast?" Waverly asks with a chuckle.

"Yes. For breakfast." Nicole Haught beams down at her girlfriend. "Because it's my birthday, and I'm going to do what  _I_  want to do." She laughs loudly and wildly, scooping Waverly up and spinning her around once before heading for the kitchen.


End file.
